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He was born in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scottland on the 20th October 1904, he and his family emigrated to Winnipeg in 1910, they then returned to Glasgow to ride out WW1.  
 
In 1918 they again immigrsated to Winnipeg where he as a youth developed Osteomyelitis in his right leg, which arguably impacted his political actions.  
 
While attending Brandon College Mr. Douglas was a good scholar and developed his leadership skills through elocution classes, drama, and debating. When he graduated in 1929 he was made an ordained Baptist minister.  
 
When working as a Minister he saw the poverty and hardship that was rampant during the depression. In 1932 he was a founding member of the Farmer Labour Party, which along with other western labour movements, developed into the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the first national socialist party.  
 
In 1935 Mr. Douglas started his career in Politics and was elected to the House of Commons where he made a name making eloquent speeches.  
 
After nine years, in 1944 he resigned to run in Saskatchewan as Leader of the provincial CCF party, when at age 39 became the first Premier in Canada to represent a Democratic Socialist government.  
 
When in office he introduced many Bills that concerned the poorer citizens of Saskatchewan society, and in 1959 he brought in Canada’s first provincial hospitalization and Medicare plan.  
 
The CCF party developed into the national New Democratic Party in 1961, and Tommy Douglas was made its Leader. The following year, 1962 he ran in the Federal election and lost, but was able to win a vacated seat in British Columbia. He remained Leader until 1971.  
 
The government of Canada passed the Medical Care Act in 1966: the work Douglas did in Saskatchewan proved the feasibility of such a plan.  
 
During his second and third years at the College, he preached at a Presbyterian Church in Carberry, Manitoba. There he met a farmer's daughter named Irma Dempsey who would later become his wife.  
 
In 1930 Douglas married Irma Dempsey, who was a music student at Brandon College. They had one daughter, actress Shirley Douglas, and they later adopted a second daughter Joan, who became a nurse. His grandson is the actor Kiefer Sutherland.  
 
Tommy Douglas spent his retirement years tending his land in the Gatineau Hills just north of Ottawa, but he remained a vocal, passionate presence in the NDP and in Canadian political life, especially on the subject of Medicare.  
 
He became a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1981. And he was one of a handful of Canadians named to the Privy Council in 1984, when the Canadian constitution was patriated.  
 
 
He is warmly remembered for his folksy wit and oratory with which he expressed his determined idealism.  
 
He was named to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 1998.  
 
He was voted "The Greatest Canadian” of all time in a nationally televised contest organized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2004.  
 
Douglas died of cancer on 24 February 1986 at the age of 81 in Ottawa, Ontario.  
 
He is buried in the Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa. His epitaph reads: “Courage my friends, ‘tis not too late to make a better world.”  
 
Other:  
Standing on guard against Tommy Douglas, an investigation by the Mounties.  
 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/standing-on-guard-against-tommy-douglas/article1474914/  
 
Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/tommy-douglas  
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Privy_Council_for_Canada  
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Canada  
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatchewan_Order_of_Merit